Plan to increase phone charges face hurdles
Plan to increase phone charges face hurdles
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government's plan to further increase telephone charges this
year may face some hurdles as the government has yet to meet all
the conditions required by the House of Representatives.
The Ministry of Transportation, which also handles the
communications sector, launched on Thursday the long-awaited
Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI), a set of
requirements made by lawmakers to manage the phone rate hike
policy.
The Director General of Post and Telecommunications (at the
ministry), Djamhari Sirat, told reporters on Thursday, after the
launching of BRTI that he would immediately propose a hike but he
fell short of elaborating on the size of the increase or the
timing.
However, in order to initiate the plan the government may
first have to discuss it with the House Commission IV for
telecommunications.
"In the last hearing between the government and the House, we
agreed that the hike would be gradual, and that the government
should first discuss it with us," Amri Husni Siregar, Deputy
Chairman of the commission, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He added the House would first ascertain the independence of
the BRTI, before agreeing to hike telephone charges.
In addition, the government and the fixed-line telephone
companies had not yet fulfilled all conditions, he said.
"We required the government and the companies to widen
telephone networks in rural areas," he said. "According to
reports it seems that the network in rural areas is still widely
untapped."
The government had intended to raise phone charges by an
average of 15 percent, as part of a three-year 45.79 percent
tariff hike program. The first 15 percent hike was implemented
earlier last year. But the second tariff hike was canceled --
together with plans to raise fuel and electricity prices -- due
to widespread public protest.
The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) also opposed the
government's plan.
YLKI official, Sudaryatmo, was quoted by Antara as saying
that: since the government and telephone companies have failed to
develop a new telecommunications network in rural areas,
lawmakers should reject the tariff hike proposal.
The proposition of the tariff hike plan was justified by the
government as a way of accessing funds to widen the telephone
network in untapped areas, and to boost investment in the sector.
To try to convince the population that the hike plan was
beneficial, the state-owned telephone services company, PT
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), launched a television campaign
earlier in the year, featuring a farmer in dire need of telephone
line to help improve the management of his farm.
The campaign said the hike would establish a new network
across untapped rural areas in the archipelago, to help "such
farmers."